Genetic diversity and genetic structure of Northern Goshawk (Accipiter gentilis) populations in eastern Japan and Central Asia

Abstract

Japanese goshawk was classified as a vulnerable species in the Red Data Book. There have been possibilities of a decrease of genetic diversity accompanied by habitat loss and genetic pollution due to hybridization with escaping imported goshawks. In this paper, genetic diversity, gene flow and conservation of Northern Goshawk (Accipiter gentilis) in Japan are discussed and compared with that in Central Asia. We used 11 newly developed microsatellite markers and also adopted six previously published markers. Genetic diversity was shown to be maintained with 0.58 as mean heterozygosity and 3.95 as mean allelic richness. The degree of genetic differentiation across all populations was low (Nei's genetic differentiation index = 0.036, Wright's genetic differentiation index = 0.039), possibly due to gene flow via adjacent regions (average number of migrants = 4.26; 0.68-20.30). However, it is possible that slight differentiation resulted from the short divergence time and/or inflow of escaping imported individuals. We recommend that goshawks in eastern Japan should be managed as a single unit. They do not appear to be under threat genetically at present, but there is the potential for rapid loss of genetic diversity. For future conservation, investigations of dispersal routes and actual conditions of gene flow are also recommended. To prevent further inflow of escaping goshawks into natural populations, it is desirable to reduce importation of goshawks and to enact a regulation obliging purchasers to register imported goshawks.

Isolation and characterization of eleven microsatellite loci in an endangered species, Mountain Hawk-Eagle (Spizaetus nipalensis)

“…LD was found only between SNMS28 and SNMS32 (P \ 0.05). The present expected heterozygosity was lower than that obtained from microsatellite analyses of Northern Goshawks (Topinka and May 2004;Takaki et al 2009) and Falco species (Padilla et al 2009). This lower genetic diversity may result from the very narrow range from which the present samples were collected.…”

Current status of the Northern Goshawk Accipiter gentilis in Japan based on mitochondrial DNA

“…To construct phylogenetic trees, appropriate substitution models for the datasets were determined based on the Akaike Information Criterion (AIC; Akaike 1974) calculated using MrModeltest2 (Nylander 2004) in conjunction with PAUP* (Swofford 2003). The selected model for CR was the HKY model (Hasegawa et al 1985) with an estimated proportion of invariant sites (I; Gu et al 1995) (HKYϩI).…”

“…These results imply that the northern population winters in central Japan, although this haplotype was also sampled from Chiba in March. According to Kudo (2008), two individuals, which bred in Hokkaido and stayed there until September, migrated to winter in Honshu. We were unable to find evidence of a population breeding outside Japan and wintering in Japan.…”

“…Tsuji 1988;Kawakami & Higuchi 2003). Kudo (2008) reported that two satellite-tracked individuals migrated from Hokkaido to Honshu. In Europe and North America, Northern Goshawks move southward in winter, even if they are not always migratory (Cramp & Simmons 1979;Kenward 2006).…”

Genetic Variability of Thermal Nymphaea (Nymphaeaceae) Populations Based on ISSR Markers: Implications on Relationships, Hybridization, and Conservation

“…The hybrid neophyte 'Panama Pacific' appears to displace the other species both in the lake and in the connecting ditches. The fragmentation of the populations can cause bottlenecks which result in the loss of rare alleles occurring in low frequency and this will affect the genetic variability due to the effects of genetic drift (Allendorf and Luikart 2007;Takaki et al 2009). During the biomonitoring process, we observed the great abundance of 'Panama Pacific' in the lake but only a few individuals can be found in the outlet.…”